Zainab Tunkara Clarkson a Community Response Group (CRG) member along with her community based group MurrayTong Pikin spent the day with 75 people from the Murray Town community to talk about Ebola. The educational session saw to the gathering of community police, representatives from community churches and mosques, market women and other business owners to gain a better understanding about Ebola and important preventative measures community members must take.

35 buckets and chlorine donated by the Murraytong Pikin group was given to participants to help support a responsive approach to taking preventative measures in light of the Ebola outbreak.

To the organisers and community members – thank you for listening, sharing, learning, growing and pushing for collective action to contain and end the Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone.

REETOWN, Sierra Leone — A second leading Sierra Leone doctor has succumbed to the Ebola epidemic sweeping across West Africa, dealing another blow to the country’s faltering efforts to stem the disease.

Dr. Modupeh Cole, 56, died Wednesday at the Ebola treatment center operated by Doctors Without Borders in the northeastern town of Kailahun, officials at the health ministry said.

He had apparently been infected while seeing a patient at the country’s leading hospital, Connaught Hospital, here in the capital, officials said. The patient later tested positive for Ebola.

The loss of Dr. Cole was described as significant by health officials in a country with a severe shortage of well-trained doctors, especially coming two weeks after the death of Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, the virologist who was leading the fight against the disease in eastern Sierra Leone, where it has flourished.

May Your Soul, Dr. Cole, Rest in Peace

Thank You for serving your country.

CRG

Map of those who engaged in the #stopebola14 discussion on Twitter this evening. Well done to all the organisers and participants. Lets Keep talking, acting, supporting, praying, holding leadership to account. #StopEbola

” You may be aware of the Ebola Virus problem in West Africa. My country is in a state of emergency and finding it difficult to cope.

There have been over 800 ebola deaths in the region and over 200 in Sierra Leone. We have the highest number of incidences in the region with 591 confirmed cases.
The Eastern region of Sierra Leone is closest to the Liberian border has been hardest hit. This region was also badly affected by the civil war and has poor infrastructure making it even more difficult to cope with the crisis.

One of the biggest challenges is burying the victims. The bodies of ebola victims are highly infectious and many people are exposed during this time. The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society backed by the International Red Cross Society are assisting with this difficult task. The Sierra Leone Emergency Ebola Fund provides support to the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society in assisting 6.3 million people who are at risk of being affected by the outbreak and dead body management is a key component of the response.

Other teams focus on raising awareness about the disease, monitoring those who may have come into contact with an infected person, and providing psychosocial support to victims, their families, and communities.Your contribution will go to helping in these areas.
Please give whatever you can, and share our GoFund Me Page to your network. Every little helps.

As of August 9th 2014, WHO reports that Sierra Leone has 656 confirmed cases and 276 deaths from the Ebola Virus since the start of the outbreak in the Mano River Region. As front line workers, it is the country’s medical staff that have been the hardest hit losing atleast 50 doctors, nurses and other personnel so far. On July 29th, Sierra Leone lost one of its most dedicated fighters, Dr. Sheik Umar Kahn, who tended to over 100 Ebola patients. Today another fighter, Dr. Modupe Cole, is battling for his life against the deadly virus. However, not all medical staff who have taken up the challenge to battle Ebola have suffered this fate. Two American missionary doctorswere evacuated out of Liberia but not before they were given what we now know was life saving doses of an Ebola cure called Zmapp produced by Mapp Pharmaceuticals. Since then other governments including, Spain and Liberia, have requested its use for some of their own medical staff. Should the Sierra Leonean government also request Zmapp for Dr. Cole and other medical staff? Is it advisable to ask for the mass use of experimental and untested drugs on Sierra Leoneans? Who should get it and who shouldn’t? Who gets to decide? Given the current crisis these are questions that we must ask and answer. Join us for a Tweet Chat to discuss this and more on Wednesday August 13th